§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the Lord Advocate, in view of the fact that the sum of £2,114 12s. 4d. was spent by the Congested Districts Board for Scotland during the year ended 31st March, 1899, in administering an expenditure of £8,973 17s. 8d., will he state what steps the Secretary for Scotland proposes to take in order to prevent one year's administrative charges of the Board amounting to as much as 25 per cent. of the total amount expended.
§ *Mr. A. GRAHAM MURRAYIt is obvious that the figures for the first full year of the administration of the Board in which the working staff had to be organised and in which the various schemes of expenditure had necessarily not advanced to maturity, cannot form a normal standard of comparison; and the percentages given in the hon. Member's question are in the circumstances meaningless figures. I may add that the Secretary for Scotland considers that the Board has, up to the present time, been very economically administered, and that a curtailment of its expenses would interfere with the proper execution of its important duties.
§ MR WEIRI beg to ask the Lord Advocate, having regard to the fact that free postage has now been granted to the head office of the Fishery Board, will he consider the expediency of communicating with the Postmaster General with a view to a similar concession being secured for the Congested Districts Board for Scotland.
§ *SIR. A. GRAHAM MURRAYI am informed by the Congested Districts Board that the question of free postage was considered by them; but, as Section 8 (2) of the Act of 1897 makes the administrative expenses of the Board payable from the sums voted by Parliament, it was decided by the Treasury that postage must be paid and charged against the Vote.